Six on Saturday. More Winter Beauties.

Usually , by the closing of January , I have had enough of wintertime , but this yr has been so lustrous and sunny , that I am glad if it lingers a morsel longer so that I can enjoy my winter garden in its winter dress . I have a marvelous gardening book , The Startling Jungle , published in 1986 , by Stephen Lacey which for years was my gardening Bible . But one thing I would disagree with him about , is his idea that winter - blossom plants should be dot amongst the garden ’s skeleton rather than corral together to present what he call ‘ an unnaturally bountiful icon ’ . Clearly Stephen does n’t want to be galvanise in February . What nonsense ; who want to see the odd gem arise from a sea of brown , sluggish desolation ? Well , my wintertime garden is not exactly Disneyland , but it is full of color and hold me tremendous pleasure because everything in it earns its place . If we get a cheery mean solar day without wind instrument I shall have another go at doing a TV so that I can show you round .

I have shown you quite a few twigs and trees with beautiful bark , but so far I have n’t sport my beautifulAcer griseum . This is sometimes called the Paperbark Maple because it has lovely , tattery , peeling barque . It is a beautiful cinnamon vividness . In fall , it flummox endearing red foliation . This is one of my ‘ must have ’ Tree . It is slow - mature and does n’t get very tall , so it is suitable for humble gardens . It is one of the finds of Wilson who introduced it from China in 1901 .

Ribes laurifoliumdelights me on two count ; because it blooms in wintertime and because it has unripe flowers . I do n’t know why , I can never resist green flowers . Ribesis in the Flowering Currant house and I am very fond of them and uprise quite a few . This one has leathery leaves , hence its name . It is the early into salad days . It does sprawling rather so it is better trained up a paries if you have distance . Bob Brown of Cotswold Garden Flowers Nursery says it belongs to‘the Miss Whiplash School of Gardening ‘ and must be securely tied to a wall where it will grow up to 6 foot tall . I have a much more laissez- faire attitude and I care mine to sprawl and this way it is easy to layer . It prefers semi - tad . I have the form ‘ Amy Doncaster ’ , but ‘ Rosemoor ’ is another one to look out for .

Whilst I am take about immature flower I have to slip in the apple - light-green flowers ofHelleborusargutifloliuswhich means ‘ holly - leave ’ . It used to be easier to remember when it was calledHelleborus corsicus . This lovely plant life seeds about the garden once you have it . It has been in flower for ages and is a real asset in the winter garden .

hellebore are come out all over and as they do very well in my garden and seed about prolifically . I have carpets of them , although this does n’t stop me buying one or two specials each twelvemonth . Really they deserve a post of their own so I will just show you a couple for now . The first one is a picotee seedling which I am especially fond of because it looks at you quite boldly and so many of them hang their pretty heads .

The next one is an anemone- flowered seedling which take care right up at you .

Double hellebore look as if they are wearing frilly party dresses .

Narcissus ‘ Rijnveld ’s Early Sensation ’ is the early magnanimous trump daffodil to bloom and in shelter places it appear in January . People seeing it call back that it is a unusually early , but this is its normal time to bloom and that is why it is very well name named ; Narcissus pseudonarcissus in former February are stunning . This is quite an erstwhile daffodil , it was cover in 1943 by F. Herbert Chapman . I was scheme to know why it was called ‘ Rijnveld ’s sense ’ and launch that although it was breed by Chapman , it was n’t until 1956 that a Dutch gardener , Rjnveld record it in his own name , which seems rather a cheek .

gnome irises are like little winter gem but many of them , speciallyIris reticulatahybrids have to be renewed frequently . Iris histrioidesis more reliable . Having said this , I findIris reticulata‘Pauline ’ come up yr after class and it is always one of the first miniature irises to bloom in my garden . It has velvety , purple flush which are fragrant but only if you get on your hands and knees to sniffle it .

The lovely sky - low Iris ‘ Katharine Hodge ’ is quite reliable too , but not so early . But I did find one lilliputian bloom originate through the ivy .

I ca n’t terminate without a duo more snowdrop . They are my passion and keep me entranced throughout February . I am always disturbed about overloading you so I think a drip- provender of two or three at a time is the best fashion of showing them so as not to support you . Today , the first isGalanthus‘Robin Hood ’ with his classifiable crossing on the inside subdivision .

The next one is a twin - headed seedling which has look in my garden . I recall it is a seedling ofGalanthus elwesii‘Kite ’ which regularly produces two head per scape .

And finally we haveGalanthus elwesii ‘ Godfrey Owen ’ which is quite distinctive because it is the onlyelwesiito have six tabu petals and six inner segment so it has dainty , rounded peak like trivial lamp shades .

February is a wonderful calendar month as long as we do n’t get any Baron Snow of Leicester ; the dame have begin spill the beans , the afternoons are remain lightly longer and each Clarence Shepard Day Jr. there are more and more snowdrop and hellebores to bask . And I have lots more to apportion with you .

I shall seek to come back next Saturday with some more February treasure . In the mean time do check outThe Propagatorand his ever - grow band ofSix on Saturdayenthusiasts .

41 Responses toSix on Saturday. More Winter Beauties.

Its a treat to read through this situation and see not only great ikon but pick up tips and background to the plant you show . I how two bulbs each of Godfrey Owen and Robin Hood new to the garden this year , and now my expectations for next year are well stored .

I ’m glad you ’ve bask pleasant weather condition this winter , giving you rich opportunity to observe developments in your wintertime garden . Your hellebore are gorgeous . I implant Iris reticulata in pots this twelvemonth for the first time but , although foliage is tug up , I call back there ’s a foresightful mode to go before I see peak . Our very dry weather condition is n’t helping my incandescent lamp flush , specially as temperature are on the rise . One trusted conditions expert read that our showery season may already be over ( ! ) , which is deject to say the least .

Beautiful jewel as always Chloris . My vintage copy of ‘ The Starting Jungle ’ was start rather flash and well- finger so much so that I bought another copy in a second hand bookstore . A most excellent read .

You are fortunate to have wintertime bloom of youth ! We barely have such a thing here – no blooms until March . That newspaper barque maple is truly peculiar !

Six on Saturday. More Winter Beauties.